This invention relates to a device for diagnosing a body cavity interior with supersonic waves wherein an endoscope is incorporated in a supersonic wave probe body to contact and diagnose an internal organ while being viewed.
A means of obtaining information on an object by utilizing supersonic waves has recently come to be extensively used even in the medical field. For example, when supersonic wave pulses are projected into a body from the body surface, the above mentioned projected supersonic waves will be propagated and will be reflected by a discontinuous boundary surface of an acoustic impedance represented by the product of the density of the medium and the velocity of the sound, therefore the above mentioned reflected supersonic wave pulses will be received and such acoustic information as the reflecting intensity will be utilized for the diagnosis.
As compared with an X-ray device, such supersonic wave diagnosing device has more advantages in that information on a biotic soft structure can be easily obtained without using a molding agent, that a biotic structure is not destroyed by radioactive rays and that the device is easier to handle and is less dangerous. Further, recently the technique on supersonic waves has progressed and the obtained information has been improved in quality and quantity so much that the supersonic wave diagnosing device is becoming increasingly popular as a clinical diagnosing device.
Against the above mentioned diagnosis wherein supersonic wave pulses are transmitted and received from the surface of a body, the body cavity interior supersonic wave diagnosing method wherein supersonic wave pulses are transmitted and received from a position near a biotic internal organ within a body cavity has more advantages in that it is possible to obtain analyzable information at a high frequency and that information being of a high precision and that the diagnosis is not influenced by a hypodermic fat layer, or the like, interposed between objects and therefore will be used more in the future. Such supersonic wave diagnosing device to be used as inserted into a body cavity is generally and conveniently used by incorporating an endoscope as an optically observing means.
Among the prior arts of such body cavity interior supersonic wave diagnosing devices wherein a supersonic wave probe inserted into a body cavity for transmitting and receiving supersonic waves to and from an internal organ and an endoscope are combined with each other, there are disclosed a "Probe for Inspecting a Body Cavity Interior" mentioned in the Gazette of Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 94230/1980, a "Body Cavity Interior Inspecting Probe" mentioned in the Gazette of Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 94231/1980, a "Supersonic Wave Probe" mentioned in the Gazette of Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 96130/1980 and an "Endoscope" mentioned in the Gazette of Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 96132/1980. However, each of the body cavity interior supersonic wave diagnosing devices of the the above mentioned prior arts disclose nothing of the arrangements having a driving cable for the supersonic wave oscillator or scanning mirror, a signal cable for of the supersonic wave oscillator and a light guide cable connected with the light source means to transmit the illuminating light to the endoscope.